BARCELONA '92 OLYMPICS / DAY 6 : Evans' Finish Is a Real Kick With a Repeat Gold in 800 : Swimming: Stewart wins 200 butterfly. U.S. women set world record in medley relay. Biondi, Jager finish behind Popov.

By TIM LAYDEN

July 31, 1992 12 AM PT

NEWSDAY

BARCELONA — How much can a person grow in four years? Check that. How much can a person grow in two days?

We left Janet Evans on Tuesday night, beaten by little more than a touch in the Olympic 400 freestyle, trying through tears to justify silver when she had known only gold. She was uncertain and defensive.

And then Thursday night, in a swimming pool more than 6,000 miles from her home in Placentia, it all came clear to this 20-year-old woman, who was nothing more than a kid when she won three gold medals in Seoul. It means more the second time, when you’re older and closer to the end, when you have suffered and complained and grown.

She won a gold medal in the 800 freestyle Thursday night, dumping seven opponents with a mid-race move that bespoke experience and class, and became the first woman to win the 800 freestyle in consecutive Games.

Then she stood on a victory platform and thought about the past four years and about all the passion expended.

“I don’t know, it’s like . . . “ she said, struggling through her emotion for the right words. “The medals in Seoul were great, but they came a lot easier. In Seoul, I was this little girl and nobody expected anything of me.”

Hers was the most meaningful performance on a night when the U.S. team won eight medals--three of them gold--in six events, including a world record by the 400-meter medley relay team of Lea Loveless, backstroke; Anita Nall, breaststroke; Crissy Ahmann-Leighton, butterfly, and Jenny Thompson, freestyle. Melvin Stewart was typically dominant in breaking the Olympic record and winning the men’s 200 butterfly.

Jeff Rouse was upset--by six one-hundredths of a second--by Canadian Mark Tewksbury in the 100-meter backstroke and took a silver. Teammate David Berkoff won the bronze.

Summer Sanders set an American record but settled for a silver in the women’s 200 individual medley and said, “I’d like to get at least one gold medal before I get out of here.”

She has a chance today in the 200 butterfly. The problem Thursday night was that China’s Li Lin set a world record.

And in the passing-of-the-torch department, 20-year-old Alexander (Sasha) Popov completed a CIS sweep of the sprint freestyle events by beating those two old U.S. gunslingers and co-tenants of the 50 freestyle penthouse, Matt Biondi, who took the silver, and Tom Jager, who won the bronze.

“We welcome Popov to the group,” Jager said. “Obviously, he’s the No. 1 guy now.”

But Evans remains the queen. In the four years since Seoul, where she was the one worthwhile mention during those disappointing Games for the United States, the sport has changed dramatically.

Evans has become a spokeswoman for student-athlete rights, and she had to leave Stanford to do it. She has grown, physically, which doesn’t make distance swimming easier. And in the realm of publicity, she has been supplanted by a generation of sprinters. She also has become occasionally testy, which is her right.

But she lost Tuesday night in the 400 freestyle and that silver medal looked like a piece of tin draped around her neck. She suffered late and was beaten by Germany’s Dagmar Hase in the last 25 meters.

“I died in that race,” she said. “So actually, I was a little worried about my endurance.”

She also had allowed Australia’s Hayley Lewis to swim in her wake in Wednesday’s preliminary competition, and Lewis stayed very close.

This would not happen in the final, where there would be no drafting.

“If a person can keep up with you, it’s easy for them to just go along for the ride,” Evans said. “So I tried to pull away.”

She was four body lengths clear at the finish, a full five seconds ahead of Lewis. Her time was nine seconds slower than the world record she set in Seoul and a questioner pointed that out to Evans.

“Are you going to take it away from me because I didn’t go fast?” Evans asked. She paused. “I could have gone faster if there had been a race out there.”

She proved Wednesday night that she is a competitor.

Her events are daunting, the aquatic equivalent of the 5,000 and 10,000 in track and field. Her training requires more time than does Biondi’s or Jager’s, so simply surviving the last four years was more than remarkable. To say nothing of the courage it took to get back in the pool after fading in the 400.

“Last March, after I won the trials, I knew I’d have to swim faster to win here,” Evans said. “I rededicated myself, and that meant swimming more. Four years is a long time when you swim six hours a day.”

Was this her last race?

“If I miss it, and I think I will, you might see me again,” Evans said. “But I do need a long break.”

Had she won the 400, she would have been the first repeat winner since American Martha Norelius in 1924 and ’28.

“Martha somebody,” Evans said. “Maybe in 60 years, somebody will say, ‘Hey, there was this little girl who repeated a long time ago . . .’ ”

Swimming Medalists

* MEN’S 50 FREESTYLE

GOLD: Alexander Popov (CIS)

SILVER: Matt Biondi (United States)

BRONZE: Tom Jager (United States)

* MEN’S 100 BACKSTROKE

GOLD: Mark Tewksbury (Canada)

SILVER: Jeff Rouse (United States)